^SH 167 
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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 
BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

HUGH H, SMITH, Ci3mmJ»»l<jn« 



THE PIKES: 

THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. HABITS. CULTURE. 
AND COMMEROAL IMPORTANCE 



By WiLUAM Converse Kendall 

Scientific Assistant, U. S* Bureaxx of Fisheries 



APPENDIX V TO THE REPORT OF THE U. S, COMMiSSIONEE 
OF FISHERIES FOR 1917 




Bureau of Fisheries Document No« 853 



PRICE, 5 CENTS 

Sold only by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office 

Washington, D. C. 

WASHINGTON 
GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1917 



Jf.Ul^t; i/rsp'r 



DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE 
BUREAU OF FISHERIES 

HUGH M. SMITH, Commissioner 



I 



THE PIKES: 



THEIR GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION, HABITS, CULTURE, 
AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE 



By WiLUAM Converse Kendall ^ '■ 

Scientific Assistant, U. 5. Bureau of Fisheries 



APPENDIX V TO THE REPORT OF THE U. S. COMMISSIONER 
OF FISHERIES FOR 1''17 




Bureau of Fisheries Document No. 853 



PRICE, 5 CENTS 

Sold only by the Superintendent of Documents, Government Printing Office 

Washini^ton, D. C. 



WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 

1917 






n^ of JD* 

OCT 6 19U 






CONTENTS 



Introduction 5 

Characteristics of the pikes < 7 

Muskellunge {Esox masquinongy) 9 

Size 10 

Habitat and habits 11 

Artificial culture 12 

Conservation 14 

Food qualities 15 

As a game fish 15 

Pike (Esox ludus) 16 

Names 18 

Size 18 

Habitat and habits 19 

Rate of growth 22 

Culture and conservation 23 

Food qualities 23 

As a game fish 24 

Eastern pickerel (Esox reticulatus) 24 

Local names 25 

Characteristics 25 

Size 25 

Habitat and habits 26 

Rate of growth 29 

Food qualities 29 

Propagation 30 

Conservation 31 

As a game fish 35 

Banded pickerel {Esox americanus) 36 

Geographical distribution 36 

Names 36 

Size - 36 

Habitat and habits 36 

Food and game qualities 37 

Little pickerel {Esox vermiculatus) 37 

Geographical distribution 37 

Names 38 

Size 38 

Habitat and habits 38 

Propagation 39 

Food and game qualities 39 

Commercial fisheries for the pikes 39 

Bibliography 42 

3 



6 THE pikes: distribution and commercial importance. 

Of what the peculiar virtues of each consist depends much upon the 
view pomt, as did the alleged bad qualities. For example, there have 
been waters in which some pike and other fishes have lived in recip- 
rocal comiterpoise from time immemorial, notwithstanding the con- 
demned ''characteristic voracity of the pike." Supposing that at 
some particular time the pike had been rendered less voracious, the 
tendency then would have been toward an midue increase of the 
natm\al objects of that voracity, which had probably been relatively 
as voracious on their own part in devouring the eggs and yomig of 
the pike. The increase of these forms might have resulted in the 
extermination of the pike, wliich would naturally have been reflected 
upon the other forms l)y depriving them of a part of their customary 
and requisite food supply, consisting of the eggs and young of the 
pike, and so have resulted in the decrease, deterioration, or extinction 
of those forms upon which the pike had exercised that quality which 
had been generally regarded as superlatively bad. The foregoing 
illustration is only a partial statement of the distm'bances possible 
tlii'ough extraneous or unusual agencies. 

It is, however, a phenomenon that is usually manifested as a result 
of overfishing, which amounts to the same thing as depriving the pike 
of its voracity, and similar to what often happens when black bass 
are introduced into pickerel ponds, of which there are many instances, 
but the cause of which has not been fuUy recognized. For instance, 
it has been recognized that black bass have practically exterminated 
pickerel in certain waters, but why the black bass afterwards deteri- 
orated in size and number did not seem explainable. These facts 
may be equally applied to other fields and fishes as respects their 
artificial distribution, and particularly to the members of the pike 
family itself, for it should be borne in mind that the reverse process 
of the foregoing is just as effective. If the pike should be rendered 
more voracious or, what amomits to the same thing, unduly increased 
in number, it would signify that sooner or later the food supply 
would he depleted, with the result that the pike would be forced to 
depend more and more upon its own yomig and would fuially fig- 
uratively swallow itself. 

The proldem in the cultm'e of the pikes, as well as in fish culture 
in general, is, or should be, how by artificial propagation to maintain 
a natural balance. Therefore, the common practice of placmg several 
kinds of predacious fishes in one body of water should be abandoned. 
Attention should be paid to not over two species intended for culti- 
vation and the food supply for them. Preferably, the fishes should 
be those natural to the waters to be stocked or, if not the natural 
forms, those nearest hke them. In other words, species to which the 
waters are suited should be used, and when two species are intro- 
duced they should be of different habits, particularly the fishes that 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 7 

are least likely to prey upon each other and which do not subsist 
upon exactly the same kind of food.® Again, applying the fore- 
going to the members of the pike family, while many of the old bal- 
ances of interrelations have been upset or seriously distui'bed, if due 
caution is exercised they may be restored or new counterpoises 
established. 

In the following pages citations to literature are by names of 
author and date of publication ui parentheses, indicatmg the pub- 
lication referred to in the appended liildiographical list. 

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE PIKES. 

The muskellunge, pike, and pickerels are all pikes hi a generic 
sense. There are other fishes belonging to entirely different families 
and, therefore, structually different and distinct from the true pikes, 
which, mifortuuately, have the local names of pike and pickerel. 
The most common species thus designated belong to the perch family. 
The spuious dorsal fin possessed by these fishes readily disthiguislies 
them from the true pikes. They are more properly designated as 
pike perch, wall-eyed pike, sauger, etc. The "pike" part of these 
names, however, signifies only a resemblance, yet m certam locali- 
ties the pike perch is called "pike" and in others "pickerel." This 
is altogether mifortunate, as it has caused regrettable confusion, 
particularly in compiling statistics of the fisheries. 

The true pikes are characterized by having a rather long, lu'oad, 
flatfish snout ; a large mouth extendmg about halfway the length of 
the head; the lower jaw the longer; and both jaws provided with 
broad bands of teeth, which are coarse and rough like wool cards 
and more or less movable. The dorsal and anal fins are situated 
near the tail and are similar and opposite. The ventral fuis are 
abdomuial. 

The preceding characters serve to distmguish the pikes from the 
pike perches, and the foUowmg will distinguish them from all 
other fishes liavmg abdominal ventral fins: Body with ordinary 
scales; back without adipose fhi but with a smgle dorsal fin made up 
of soft rays and not preceded by free spuies; anal fui without dis- 
tinct spmes; tail forked; pectoral fui situated below the median 
line of the body from tip of snout to base of tad; head more or less 
scaly; gill membranes not attached to the prolongation of the body 
forward between the gill openmgs; no barbels; maxillaries distinct; 
upper jaw not protractile, that is, its forward end is firmly jomed to 
the snout; both jaws provided with sharp teeth, varying in size and 
arranged in broad bands; snout somewhat prolonged and depressed. 

aJardine (1S9S) states that in artificial carp ponds in Germany it is the custom to keep a few pike, the 
carp culuirist knowing just how many to introduce. A few act beneficially in destroj'ing the smaller and 
weaker individuals of the carp stock, which would not attain a growth in three years commensurate to 
their consumption of food. 



THE PIKES : DTSTRTBUTTON AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 



The pike family includos one genus only — Es;ox,the pikes — inlia])it- 
ants of the fresh waters of the temperate parts of Europe, Asia, and 
America. The pike proper, Esox lucius, inhabits all three continents 
and is the only representative of the family in other than the North 
American continent. In North America there are now recognized 
five species, including the pike. These are the pike (Esox lucius), 
the muskellunge (Esox m.asquinongy) , the eastern pickerel (Esox 

reticulatus) , the banded pickerel 
(Esox americanus), and the little 
pickerel (Esox vermiculatus) . 

The species vary in appearance 
among themselves according to 
locality, age, size, and sex, but it 
is only in muskellunge that sub- 
species have been designated, 
and these have been pronounced 
distinct species by some ichthy- 
ological authorities (Jordan and 
Evermann, 1902)." 

Owing to confusion of local 
names, mistaken identifications, 
and the scant knowledge of the 
fishes of some regions, it has not 
been easy to decide j)ositively 
regarding the exact geographical 
distril)ution of the muskellunge 
and pike in America, ])ut the 
ranges of the other species have 
])een fairly well made out. 

The following key should en- 
able anyone to distinguish any 
mem])er of the pike family. In 
this key, however, and in the subsequent text the usual order of 
arrangement has not been followed, ])ut the most important species 
are first considered. 

The genus is divisible into three groups according to the squamation 
of the sides of the head, wliich easily separates the muskellunge, pike, 
and pickerels. 

a Pike and pickerel, particularly the latter, have had their original geographical range more or less 
extended liy man with Itoth good intentions and alleged malice aforethought. Also, places in which 
the fish was supposed not to occur have, at one time or another, licen discovered to contain them. 

Jardine wrote that it had often puzzled naturalists to explain how newly made lakes or streams known to 
have never contamed pike should suddenly have been found to he stocked with them. He added that 
some naturalists, including the late Frank Buckland, considered that waterfowl, such as ducks, coots, 
moorhens, or daV)Chicks, after feeding among aijuatic weeds where vivified .spawn had Ijeen deposited, on 
taking flight to other waters, conveyed some of the spawn, which is glutinous, sticking among their feath- 
ers or to their feet. 




FIG. 1.— SQUAMATION OF HEAD OF PIKES. 
a, Pickerel; b, ]dke; r, muskellunge. 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 9 

KEY TO THE PIKES. 

a. No scales on lower half of gill cover (operculum). 

6. Cheek, as well as lower half of gill cover, without scales Muskellunge. 

bb. Cheeks entirely scaled, lower half of gill cover unthout scales Pike. 

aa. Gill cover and cheeks both entirely scaled. 

c. Branchiostegals a normally 14 to IC; dorsal rays 14; anal 13 Eastern pickerel. 

cc. Branchiostegals normally 12 (11-13); dorsal rays 11 or 12; anal 11 or 12 

Banded pickerel, little pickerel.^ 

MUSKELLUNGE (Esox masqmnongy). 

The muskellunge comprises tlu'ee more or less distinctr. color forms 
which have been variously regarded as subspecies or distinct species.'' 
These are the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence fish, with irregular 
blackish spots on a ground color or grayish silver {Esox masquinongy) ; 
the Ohio drainage fish, including some Pennsylvania and New York 
lakes, with dark crossbars which split up into diffuse spots (Esox 
oJiiensis); and the fish of the Wisconsin and Minnesota lakes and 






FIG. 2.— MUSKELLUNGE (Esot masquinongy). 

rivers, with body unspotted or with vague dark cross shades (Esox 
immaculatus) . 

The spelling of the name muskellunge has been the subject of 
numerous modifications by various authors, with more or less ety- 
mological authority. Curiously enough the Cree Indian name sounds 
much like the French appellation (Henshall, 1892), but inasmuch as 
the orthographical representation of Indian sounds is somewhat a 
matter of individual interpretation, and as many North American 
French words have become greatly modified, if not whoUy Angli- 
cized, the spelling "muskellunge" is adopted here, as it is a phonetic 
representation of the common pronunciation whether by Cree or 

a The Ijranchiostegals are the ril)like rays under the lower edge of the gill cover. 

b Inasmuch as the distinguislung dillerences of these two species are very slight and the geogi-aphical 
distribution quite distinct, the easiest method of identifjong them is by locality (see discussion of each). 
However, the following characters have been given in keys: 

A. Head 3f in length of body, snout 2i in length of head, eye 5 amiricanus. 

A A. Head 3i in length of liody, snout 2\ in length of head, eye 6 veriniculatus. 

At least one student who has examined many specimens of each of these species maintains his belief that 
they are not distinct species, and are merely subject to local or geographical variations. 

« "The muskellunge of Chautauqua Lake and the Ohio Basin differs greatly in appearance from that 
of the Great Lakes. As the two forms are not known to intergrade and as their habits are entirely distinct, 
they are best regarded as distinct species. " (Jordan and Evermann, 1902.) 

106624°— 17 2 



10 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

Frenchman. In fact, the Cree name may have been an Indianized 
form derived from French sources or vice verea. 

The most generally Imowii form of the spotted muskellunge is 
native to all the Great Lakes, the upper St. Lawrence River, Lake 
Champlain, certain streams and lakes tributary to the Great Lakes, 
and a few lakes in the upper Mississippi Valley, also in Canada north 
of the Great Lakes. It does not seem to be at all abundant any- 
where, as the number taken each year in any one of the lakes is smaU. 
It is, perhaps, most common in Lakes Michigan and Erie and among 
tlie Thousand Islands (Jordan and Evermann, 1896). 

The barred muskeUunge is best known from Chautauqua Lake, 
though specimens have been reported from a few places in the 
Ohio ch-ainage — for instance, in Lakes Conneaut and La Boeuf, 
Pa. ; the Mahoning River, and the Ohio, at Evansville — and a young 
individual S inches long was found in 1899 or 1900 by W. P. Hay 
in Decker Creek, above Morgantown, W. Va. (Bean, 1902a). 

The spotless form is found in a number of small lakes in northern 
Wisconsin and Minnesota. The following waters in northern Wis- 
consin are stated to be inhabited by tliis pike: Pelican Lake, Toma- 
hawk and adjoining lakes, Ai'bor Vit», St. Germain Lakes, Trout 
Lake, the Eagle waters — i. e., a chain of lakes through wliich Eagle 
River flows — Tliree Lakes and others connected therewith, Bucka- 
tarbon Lake, Lac Vieux Desert, Big and Little Twin Lakes, Long 
Lake, Sand Lake, and various others, many of which have not been 
explored or named (Mosher, 1892, and Nevins, 1901). 

SIZE. 

The muskellunge has been stated to be the largest species of the 
pike family, but, if traditions and reports are true, in Europe the 
pike has attained a larger size than has ever been recorded for the 
muskellunge, and there are numerous records of pike in this country 
of fully as large size as the majority of large muskellunge. The 
average weight of the muskellunge and the usual range of the large 
pike perhaps are not much different except in some localities where 
the fish have become scarce and run large. In fact in the past there 
have arisen many disputes and discussions regarding fish which some 
anglers chose to call muskellunge and which others decided were 
pike. Sometimes the cpiestion was referred to the Sportsman's 
Journal and occasionally to the United States Fish Commission. 
Usually, however, the description of the fish was inadecpiate to per- 
mit of a positive identification. 

The muskeUunge has been said to reach a weight of 100 pounds 
or more (Jordan and Evermann, 1896), but the maximum weight 
is ]^robably not often above 80 pounds and the average not over 
25 or 30 pounds. 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. H 

Bean (1902) stated that the muskelliinge iii Chautauqua Lake had 
been known to reach a weight of 50 pounds, and in the spring 
of 1895, when eggs were being collected for tlie Benius Point 
hatchery, it was not unusual to take individuals weighing from 40 
to 50 pounds and many weigliing from 20 to 30 pounds. 

At the Minocqua hatchery in Wisconsin James Nevins (1901) 
mentioned one of 40 pounds. 

HABITAT AND HABITS. 

Ilahitat. — Wherever the muskellunge occurs, its habits, so far as 
they are known, are essentially the same and generally similar to 
those of other members of the family. 

The seasonal abode of the fish varies somewhat with the size of 
the fish. In any body of water it generally occurs in the vicinity 
of water plants at the edge of channels or streams or along the shores, 
where it Hes concealed. 

Referring to the Chautauqua Lake fish, Bean (1908) wi'ote that 
when the lake became very clear in February the fish go into deep 
water and that they live in deep water more or less aU of the year, 
and in winter they frequent nearly the same localities as in summer, 
usually in the vicinity of water plants. 

Mosher (1892) stated that the muskellunge delight to lurk among 
weeds or old tree tops that have fallen into the water. There they 
will lie for hours perfectly motionless. 

Henshall (1892) stated that like all animals of prey it is solitary in 
its habits, lying concealed among the water plants and bulhushes at 
the edges of the streams or channels or along the shores. 

Feeding. — The feecUng habits of the muskellunge are essentially 
the same as of the other members of the family. As in the case of 
most predacious fishes, it subsists largely upon other fishes, for which 
it hes in wait under the concealment of water plants. Its size makes 
it a formidable engine of destruction, but not more so than other 
voracious species of like size. 

Henshall (1892) stated of the muskellunge that, hke all of the pike 
family, it is a typically piscivorous fish, having its large mouth, jaws, 
and tongue, armed with a terrible array of long, sharp, conical 
teeth of various sizes, wliich form veritable chevaux-de-frise from 
which there is no escape for the unlucky fish that is so unfortunate 
as to be seized by the cruel and relentless jaws. In another place 
he went on to say that the numt)er of fishes destroyed by a mascalonge, 
as he called it, during a summer is almost incredible, and they arc 
not small fry and young fishers, such as devoured by other predacious 
fishes, but those that have escaped the many dangers and vicissitudes 
of adolescence and have arrived at an age when they are capable 
of reproducing their kind. 



12 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

S pawiving .—In referring of the Wisconsin fish Nevins (1901) 
wrote: ''The breeding places of the muskellimge are where the logs, 
stumps, and driftwood are thickest, in shallow water or flowage 
where dead limbs, logs, and brush have accumulated as results of 
flooding for logging purposes or otherwise." 

Bean (1908) stated that the Chautauqua muskellunge begins to 
spawn a few days after the ice is out and continues mitil the latter 
part of April and that it spawns in comparatively shallow water 
from 10 to 15 feet deep. He said that the fish does not resort to 
gravelly, bottoms like many other fish but to mud, usually going 
into bays. 

The following communication ^ was reported in the proceedings 
of the Boston Society of Natm'al History in 1854: 

Dr. Burnet (1854) stated on the authority of Prof. Ackley, of Cleveland, that the 
"muskalonge" {Esox nobilior) is known to perforin an act of copulation in fecundating 
the eggs of the female. The female turmng on her side offers her abdomen to the 
contact of the male, who, after taking a cu-cuit, swims against her with coiwderable 
force. The female then retires and deposits her eggs in the sand, after which the 
process is repeated. Dr. Cabot thought that the object of the act in question might 
be to press the ova from the female just as they were about to be extruded. He has 
seen male and female suckers (Catostomus hosioniensis) side by side in close contact, 
during the breeding season, probably for a similar purpose. Dr. Durkee had noticed 
the same thing in the habits of the trout. 

ARTIFICIAL CITLTURE. 

Only the State fish commissions of New York and Wisconsin seem 
to have made any determined effort to artificially propagate the 
muskellunge. 

New York was fii'st to undertake such operations, chiefly at 
Chautauqua Lake, and later Wisconsin carried on the work at the 
Minocqua hatchery. 

In order to get the breeding fish. Bean (1908) stated, the pomid 
nets are set at a number of places near Bemus Point as soon as the 
ice leaves the lake. 

He stated_,(hat the males are smaller than the females and very 
little milt suffices to fertilize a large niunber of eggs. A female 
weighing 35 pounds yielded 255,000 eggs, and the eggs are about one- 
eleventh of an inch in diameter and 74,000 to the quart measm'e. 
They are semibuoyant and not adhesive. 

Under favorable circumstances about 97 per cent of the impreg- 
nated eggs have been hatched. In the early experiments with 
artificial culture some eggs were hatched in 15 days with a water 
temperatm'e of 55° F. The fry when fu'st hatched are very small 
and quite helpless. The yolk sack is absorbed in about 15 days in 
water at 55° F. 

a Note the similarity of this description with Smitt's and Bcucuko's statement relating to the pike. 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 13 

Formerly the eggs were hatched in boxes, but at present they are 
placed in glass jars and hatched like whitefish eggs in artesian-well 
water with a uniform temperatm'e of about 48° F. The embryos are 
too heavy to swim out of the jars, and therefore they are transferred 
at the proper state of development to trays m boxes placed in the 
hatchery troughs. These boxes are fitted with wke at each end to 
insure a direct and miinterrupted flow of water, which prevents the 
banking up of the fry at the lower end of the tray. Eggs fii'st taken 
on April IS began to hatch on May 16. The shell of the egg was very 
dark, almost black. 

Premature hatching occurred on some occasions, due to a differ- 
ence of temperatm'e between the lake and the artesian water, a 
difference of 7° or 8° F. when the eggs were transferred. Cold water 
was fomid very bad for hatching the eggs. They do not develop 
properly, some having no shell when hatched and the fry small and 
weak. On the other hand, if hatched in warm water the fry would 
be black and strong and almost twice as large. The best water to 
use is lake water, which should grow gi'aduall}' warmer. 

Mr. Wilham BuUer, of Corey, Pa., hatched muskeUunge eggs on 
the finest wire trout trays in water at a temperature of 45° F., where 
they were stated to hatch in 62 days into fine and healthy fry. 

MuskeUmige fry can be kept very easilj^ until they begin to swim 
up, but after that the losses thi"ough cannibalism are so serious that 
it has been found impossible to rear them. 

It does not, however, swim up as soon as the young of most fishes 
and is much affected by the quality of the egg. Sudden changes 
of tomperatm'e of the water injure the egg seriously. 

Yomig muskeUunge kept in a smaU creek, at the hatchery gromids 
at Bemus Point, grew faster than those in artesian water in the 
hatchery troughs and ponds. 

Many attempts have been made to rear the muskeUmige to finger- 
ling size, but none has succeeded on account of the cannibalism so 
characteristic of the young. 

The yomig fry are usuaUy ready for planting al)out the end of May 
or in June. 

The Wisconsin commission began to propagate the muskeUunge 
during the spring of 1899 in connection with the work of collecting 
wall-eyed pike ova (Nevins, 1901). The chief difficulty encountered 
was stated to be to catch the fish on the eve of spawning, as it was 
found that the large fish would not stand confinement, and in the 
beginning sufficient rij^e male fish could not be secm*ed. 

Attempts were made to hold the fish in pens and in a large dununy 
pocket 20 bj^ 22 feet and 10 feet deep, but in vain. The ova would be 
retained in the fish and would cake. Finally, a large pen was made 
in a thoroughfare between two lakes in a current of water, in which 



14 THE PIKES : DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

unripe fish were successfully held until the ova matured and both 
spawn and niilt were obtained. After spawning the fish were re- 
leased. In catching the fish for breechng purposes the fyke net is 
usually employed, and it is not altogether an easy matter to collect a 
sufficient number for spawning purposes, as the spawning places to 
which the fish resort in pairs are scattered about the lake. In trans- 
porting the fish to the pens live boxes 16 feet long, 2 feet wide, and 10 
inches deep, made ^'skow-shape" wath bottom of slats 2 inches apart, 
giving an abundant circulation, are employed. 

Unlike those of most other fish the eggs do not harden after being 
taken from the fish, but remain soft and flabby until hatched. With 
the water at a temperature of 52° F. the eggs hatch in about 10 
days, and about 1 5 days are required to absorb the food sack. 

Both boxes and Chase hatchery jars were tried, with the result 
greatly in favor of the jai-s. Just before the eggs began to hatch they 
were taken from the jars and placed on fine \\dre-cloth trays, in order 
that the young fish might not smother, being unable to make their 
way out of the jars unaided on account of the comparatively large 
umbilical sack. 

One female weighing about 40 pounds produced not less than 225,000 
ova, 80,000 filling a quart measure and 100 individuals averaged G,315 
eggs each. 

Tlie fry when first hatched are a light color and seem to adhere to 
the side of the tank, box, or tray, or any other object with which they 
come in contact. Tliose hatched were strong and healthy, grew 
rapidly, and in their development exliibited their wild nature and the 
instinct of self-preservatiou by quickly darting off to hide when 
alarmed by a person approaching the tank in which they were 
confined. 

They were retained until they were 4 weeks old and \\ inches long 
and were fed upon young pike, which seemed to be suitable as well as 
acceptable food. 

CONSERVATION. 

Nevins staled that for many years, since the wilderness of northern 
Wisconsin was opened by railways and by lumbering operations, with 
the advent of the comforts and conveniences which the railroad takes 
into a new country and the encroachment of the settler and summer 
hotels on the primitive banks of our northern lakes, the pm'suit of the 
muskeUunge has been constant and relentless. Its utter extermi- 
nation has been well nigh accomplished in many of our lakes where it 
was inchgenous; and nearly all of our waters have been cleared of 
tliis fish to sucii an extent that its future has become a matter of 
much concern to sportsmen, fish culturists, and others interested in 
keeping our waters well stocked with superior game fishes. 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 15 

Henshall (1892) stated that it is fortunate for the rest of the finny 
tribe that the "mascalonge" is comparatively a rare fish. The 
muskellunge, hke others of the pike family, breeds in the spring, later, 
however, than the pike or pickerel. All of the pike family resort to 
overflowed marshes or shallow grassy streams to spawn — the pick- 
erel during March and the muskellunge in May. 

Tlie pickerel thus has a start of about two months, and no doubt 
the young pickerel devour most of the muskellunge that hatch, for the 
spawn in May, in such shallow water, is exposed to the ravages of 
turtles, frogs, ducks, and coots, and most of it is doubtless destroyed. 
Tliis seems to be a wise provision, for since the muskellunge spawns 
from 100,000 to 300,000 eggs, according to size, the result can be 
imagined were the same proportions of eggs to hatch and reach ma- 
tm'ity as in the case of most other fishes." 

It has not seemed advisable to introduce this fish into other waters 
than those in which it is indigenous. 

For a number of years the Pennsylvania commission has distrib- 
uted the young of this species, hatclied from eggs derived from New 
York waters, into natural muskellunge waters in Pennsylvania. One 
of the State reports says, however, that the muskellunge attains a 
size of 12 inches in a very few months, but to attain that size eats an 
enormous amount of food, causing it to be a dangerous fish to place 
in ordinary waters. 

FOOD QUALITIES. 

As in the case of other species of the family, opinions vary regarding 
its quahty as a food fish. Henshall \vi'ote (1892) that in comparison 
with the rest of the family it is a valuable food fish, though it is much 
overrated and is inferior to the whitefish, lake trout, black bass, or 
brook trout for the table, but that it is, however, readily disposed 
of in the markets, and, while possessing no special or characteristic 
flavor, is fu'm, flaky, and is much admired by many, and adds ''but 
chacun a son goiit." 

On the other hand, Nevins (1901) stated that from a gastronomic 
standpoint the muskellunge has few equals among fishes and by some 
is considered to rank in quality next to the salmon. 

AS A GAME FISH, 

Henshall (1892) stated that as a game fish the ''mascalonge" is far 
superior to the rest of the family, and when weighing upward of 10 
pomids its great vitality, weight, and power give it an endurance that 

a In this statement Henshall does not seem to recognize that homologous adaptions exist in other fishes. 
In natural economy the purpose of reproduction— i. c., the perpetuity of the species— is accomplished by 
the survival of one pair only to replace the parents when they are gone, and for which pui'pose one species 
is no better equipped than another. Every species is natiu"ally adapted to meet both favorable and un- 
favorable conditions to which it is naturally subjected. The species which is subjected to the most ad- 
verse conditions has the most eggs, and vice versa. 



16 TITE riKES : DTSTEIBrTIOX AND COMMEECIAL IMPOETANCE. 

is higlil}^ oxtoUed by som(\ hut can hardly ho compared to the sahnon, 
black bass, or brook trout for pure gameness per se; that is, it does not 
exhibit the finesse and elan of those superb game fishes. 

Most ''mascalonge," however, are taken with hand line and trolling 
spoon and hauled in hand over hand. With taut line and moving 
boat tlie ''mascalonge" sometimes leaps above the water because it 
can not get very far beneath the sm'face. As a rule, however, when on 
the rod it does not leave the water and will not leap unless forced to do 
so, but will endeavor to keep near the bottom or to reach the cover of 
weeds or rushes. 

With proper taclde the "mascalonge'' affords good sport, for, being 
a pow(^rful fish, it requires much skill and judgment on the part of the 
angler (o keep it away from the moss and grass bottom or from the 
weeds and algre of the shore and to successfully bring it to gaff within a 
reasonable time. Tlie best bait is a large live minnow or frog, either 
for casting or trolling, though for the latter mode of fishing a large 
trolling spoon witli single hook may be used. 

Regarding the Ohio fish, Henshall said that in the Ohio and its tribu- 
taries the "mascalonge" is fomid in the summer and autumn in the 
deepest holes of the streams and are tlie^i taken by stillfishing, the 
bait being usually suckers of a half pound or more in weight. After 
taking the bait the fish is given time to gorge it before striking or 
hooking. He adds: 

It is now, however, a rare occurrence to take a "pike," as it is called, in these 
waters, and the fact is talked of long afterwards and the head preserved as a 
trophy, while the fish itself, being esteemed a great delicacy on account of its great 
size and rarity, is made the piece de resistance of a formal dinner instead of being 
preserved for a piece justificative. For five years I have endeavored to prociu-e a 
specimen of this rare fish in the Ohio Basin, but, beyond the head, my efforts have so 
far failed. No one who is so fortunate as to captui'e a " iiike" seems willing to part 
with it for love of science or coin of the realm. 

Regarding its game qualities, Mosher wrote that when lying basking 
in the smi they rarely take bait uidess miusually attractive, but when 
lurking in the weeds or rushes, waiting for some living victim, they 
will take artificial bait voraciously. But, he stated, they do not 
seem to be so voracious as their smaller cousin the jDickerel, and there 
are times when for daj^s together no amoimt of coaxing will induce 
them to take bait of any kind. 

PIKE (Eso.r Jucius) 

The pike, as previously mentioned, is the only species of the family 
which occm's outside of North America. Its geograpliical range, 
accordnig to F. A, Smitt (1892), is from northeastern Siberia west to 
the east of North America. According to Pallas, it inhabits the 
River Amm', which falls into the Sea of Okhotsk, and the Rivers 
Indigirka and Chatauga, which discharge into the Arctic Ocean, 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 



17 



but is wanting in (ho Kamchatkan Peninsula. Brehm found it in 
the lower course of the River Obi; and in the great lakes of the 
Barbara steppes (the upper basin of the Obi and Irtish) it is extremely 
common, according to Pallas, and attains a considerable size. It 
occm's also in the Caspian Sea but not in Transcaucasia or in the Black 
Sea, though it is found in the Sea of Azov and the basin of the Danube. 
It is met with in rivers and lakes throughout Ilussia and north-central 
Eui'ope, including Great Britain, Italy, and Sicily, but is said to be 
wanting in Greece and on the Pyrenean Peninsula. It inhabits all the 
waters of Scandinavia, with some exceptions in Noi^way. 

In North America its range extends across the continent from the 
Labrador Peninsula to Alaska, northward to beyond the Arctic Cu'cle, 
and southward to the St. Lawrence and Great Lakes Basin. It is 
found also in some waters in the United States south of the Great 
Lakes, as northern New York and tlie ^lississippi and its tributaries, 




FIG. 3.— COMMON PI KE (i?.soi ;«dMs). 

but it does not occur in Nova Scotia, New Brmiswick, or (except by 
introduction) in that part of New England east of the Green Moun- 
tains. 

It is the common pike of northern New York and the States bor- 
dering on the Great Lakes. 

Chambers (1896) stated that it occurs in Lake St. John and its 
tributary streams as well as in the large lakes adjacent to and beyond 
the height of land. 

According to Low (1895), tliis fish is fomid abmidantly throughout 
the interior of Labrador in the lakes and quick-flowing streams and is 
common in the rivers of the southern, eastern, and western water- 
sheds, but not abundant in the Koksoak River. 

Preble (1908) reported that it is abmidant in the Mackenzie Valley 
in practically all the waters of the region and has given its name to 
scores of lakes and streams, but he was unable to ascertain its presence 
in the Ark-i-linik, Great Fish, or Coppermine Rivers. However, it is 
an inhabitant of the Anderson. 

Bean said that Townsend and others found it above the Arctic Circle 
in Alaska, and Dall and Nelson took it in abmidance on the Yukon. 
106624"— 17 3 



18 THE PIKES : DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

NAMES. 

In America, as in Europe, this fisli is known 1)}^ various names 
according to locality and appearance. In the British Isles the young 
is called a "jack" or, sometimes, pickerel. In our own comitry, 
probably, the name pickerel is in as common use for this fish as pike, 
and, intentionally or unintentionally, when large it has sometimes 
been mistaken for muskellunge. It is the "grass pike" of Lake Erie 
and perhaps of other waters. In Canada it is referred to as pike and 
jack pike. According to Forbes (1908), in Illinois and elsewhere it 
is called pickerel. However, with a little scrutiny, at whatsoever 
size, it can hardly be mistaken for any other species. Tiio presence 
of scales on the cheeks and al^sence of any on the lower half of the 
gill cover easily distinguish it. 

Wliile the color of the fish may vary consideral^ly in some details 
of shade or markings, as usually ol)served it may be said to be greeii- 
isli gray with yellow reflections and with many white or yellow spots 
arranged somewhat in rows, the dorsal and caudal fins l)earing round 
or oblong black spots. The young are more or less crossbarrcd. 

SIZE. 

Wliile the muskellunge is stated to be the largest of the pike 
family, in Europe, if tracUtions can be beheved, the pike has far 
exceeded any muskellunge record. One taken at Bregenz in 1862 
was said to weigh 145 pounds, and one cauglit in Scotland was reported 
as being 7 feet long and weighing 72 pounds. 

Smitt (1892) said that tlie maximum authentic record is one of 
57.2 pounds, but that pike of that size are of rare occurrence. 

Jardine (1896) presented fists covering a period from 1869 to 
1896, inclusive, of large pike taken l^y anglers in England, Scotland, 
and Ireland, comprising 51 examples ranging from 18 to 37 pounds, 
which are found to average 25^ pounds. He mentions another 
found after draining Wliitlesea Mere wliich weighed 49 pounds. 

Coupled with the alleged great size to which the pike has attained 
in Europe are unauthentic accounts of instances in wliich individuals 
reached a great age, as high as 200 years in some cases. 

In a large lake at the head of a tributary of the Nushigak River, 
Alaska, the Inuit natives believe that there are pike of fabulous size 
which they hold in a sort of superstitious awe or fear and concerning 
wliich they relate wonderful tales, behoving that they attack men in 
their kyaks and devour them. They say they are longer than a 
kyak (Fassett). 

In some waters of British America the pike reaches a considerable 
size. Preble (1908) stated that in the larger lakes it attains a weight 
of 35 pounds or more. In Labrador Low (1895) said that it varies in 
weight from 2 to 15 pounds. 



THE PIKES: DISTEIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 19 

According to Chambers (1896), in the Lake St. Jolui region many 
of them far exceed in weight the generally accepted hmit of size of 
the ordinary Esox lucius, sometimes attaining the weight of 20, 30, 
and even 40 pounds. One was taken in Lake Tschotagama in 1890 
which weighed 49 pounds and another in 1891 of 47 pounds. In 
1892 one was caught in tlie Peribonca River wliich weighed 35 pounds. 

Herbert (1849), referring to the pike, said that specimens of the 
northern pickerel may be found wliich weigh as liigh as 16 or 17 
pounds, but that weight is rarely exceeded. 

Forbes (1908) stated that the average weight of the pike in Illinois 
waters is not over 5 pounds, but a specimen weighing 26^ pounds was 
reported by Dr. Jordan to have been caught in the Kankakee, and 
Tomlin (1892) wrote that specimens have been taken in Michigan 
and along the bays connecting with the north shore of Lake Superior 
wliich weighed as high as 20 pounds. 

HABITAT AND HABITS. 

Habitat. — The pike chooses its spring and summer haunts by 
preference in shallow inlets with weedy bottoms and shores over- 
grown with reeds and rushes. Toward autunm it betakes itself to 
precipitous, stony shores, wliich it again foreakes when winter is 
at hand and the inlets freeze. Most of the pike then return to their 
summer stations, but the larger ones seemingly follow the shoals 
of other fishes to the depths, being seldom caught during the winter 
in shallow water. For these a more plentiful supply of food is, no 
doubt, necessary than shallows afford in winter. When the pike 
has chosen its station for the season, it restricts its wanderings to the 
immediate neighborhood, leacUng a sohtary hfe and never being seen 
ill company except during the spawning. (Smitt, 1892.) 

Accorchng to Preble (1908), in the far North it is much less common 
in the muddy rivers than in clear lakes, and the pools at the foot of 
falls or rapids are favorite haunts. Forbes (1908) said it prefers 
clean, clear, cool water with a sluggish current, in wliich it remains 
generally quiet by day. 

Habits.— l^om^n (1892) wrote: 

It is a powerful fish and is no coward ; it will fight as viciously as a terrier. We have 
seen small pike with jaws locked and lashing the water around them like a boiling 
caldron. Occasionally letting go and backing out, they would rush at each other 
with open jaws and keep up the fight until one is beaten and driven away or until 
later on exhausted. Some years ago I found two dead, with both jaws fast set so that 
they could not be pulled open. Both of them were handsome male fish and must 
have fought fiercely, for their bodies were cut all along the sides and bellies. 

Feeding. — The pike is undoubtedly the most voracious among the 
fresh-water fishes. It devours inchscriminately other fishes, young 
waterfowl, small mammals, and carrion. From the dense bed of 
grass or rushes, where it usually passes the day in stationary watch, 



20 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

it pounces with the speed of an arrow on its unwary victim. It 
ahuost always seizes its prey crosswise and retains its hold until the 
latter is dead or so exhausted as to desist from all struggles. Then 
the pike turns the prize in its jaws tiU the head points toward the 
interior of its mouth and commences its meal. This operation is a 
protracted one when the victim is large, for the end first swallowed 
and received in the stomach must digest to make room for the remain- 
der (Smitt, 1892). 

On one occasion a pike of 7 or 8 pounds' weight was seen to dart 
forward and seize a salmon wliich was quite as large in its formidable 
jaws right across the body. The combat was fierce. The salmon 
leaped out of the water and made desperate ])ut fruitless struggle to 
shake off its relentless captor. In a couple of hours' time the salmon 
was utterly exhausted, and the pike began to swallow it head first. 
The meal lasted tlu'ee days before the whole body had disap- 
peared. The process of digestion must have taken much longer, for 
aU the following week the pike had a very swollen apiK^arance and 
could hardly be induced to move by toucliing it with a long stick 
(Smitt, 1892). 

The fishermen in general believe that at certain seasons of the year 
the pike ontu'ely abstains from food and at others is excessively 
voracious. These seasons are said to be j^eriodical and regidar in 
occmTcnce, the observant fisherman l)eing able to predict the time 
when the pike is "on its feed," as it is called. But these periods are 
said not to occur at the same time year after year, and according to 
some observations, they are determined by the spawning season, for 
the period of voracity begins in the same change of the moon (waxing 
or wane) as the pike finishes spawning. There is one exception, 
however, the pike being always "on its feed" throughout the dog 
days. This periodical voracity and moderation is said to depend on 
the circumstance that at certain times the points of the teeth hardly 
project above the flesh, some tenderness of the gums being thus the 
curb of the pike's usual rapacity. Perhaps we have here some 
observation on the manner in which the pike casts its teeth or we 
may find a more probable explanation in the fact that the fish 
requires some time to digest the great quantity of food wliich it 
devours during the period of voracity (Smitt, 1892). 

According to Chambers (1896), in the Lake St. John the fish is so 
voracious that many of the settlers about the shores fear to bathe in 
the waters. Both dogs and waterfowl swimming upon the surface 
have been attacked. 

Forbes (1908) stated that it is purely carnivorous, its food con- 
sisting of fishes, such as smifish and black bass. Frogs, cra3rfish, 
large water insects, mice, reptiles, and yomig ducks have been 
reported by various authors to have been taken from the stomachs 
of pike. 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 21 

Breeding.- — Since, unfortunately, not much has been written con- 
cerning the breeding habits of the American pike, it is again necessary 
to rely for information mainly upon what has been published respect- 
ing the European fish. However, if the two are specifically iden- 
tical, the general habits are probably much the same. 

Smitt (1892) has quite fully described the spawning process of the 
Scandinavian pike, and his description essentially agrees with the 
account of the German fish given by Benecke. 

In the spring before there is open water in the lakes the pike com- 
mences to approach the shores, and breeding individuals in particular 
repair to those parts of the shore having inlets. When the spring is 
so far advanced that the lakes are free of ice, the brooks clear, and 
the low-lying meadows about the shores are imder water, the larger 
pike make then* way to those inmidated places and begin to spawn. 

The spawning is of long duration, its season depending upon the 
age of the fish, the young spawning first. When they have finished, 
the middle-sized pike begin, and the oldest and largest spawn last of 
all. Generally there are laid about 100,000 yellowish eggs about 
3 millimeters in diameter, out of which in the course of 14 days the 
yomig with their great umbilical sacs escape. The spawning time in 
eastern Prussia was given as during the months of February to April, 
and occasionally the spawning of the first pikes occurs before the 
departure of the ice. (Benecke, 1880 and 1885.) In Illinois the 
pike spawns m March, selecting shore water about a foot and a half 
in depth, and the young hatch in about 14 days (Forbes, 1908). 

Benecke (1880 and 1885) stated that it lives a hermit life, consorting 
in pairs only during the spawning season, but Smitt said that the 
females, which are always larger, come to the spawning places each 
attended by two or thi'ee or, in rare cases, fom* males; also that the 
females swim so high in the water that when the weather is calm 
the sm'face is faintly rippled by their movements and the dorsal and 
caudal fins may be seen above the sm'face. As soon as the female 
halts the males approach and surround her, one on each side or, if 
more than two, one under the tail and perhaps one above the back. 
They rub themselves against her body, dui'ing which operation she 
keeps stiU, only moving the fins, after which she disperses the males 
with a sudden lash of her body and darts to another point, meanwhile 
having deposited in the grassy bottom the yellowish and coarse- 
grained roe which is impregnated by the milt. At the new location 
the operation is repeated. Benecke, however, states that the fish 
rub violently against each other and the spawn is deposited, accom- 
panied by powerful blows of the tail. 

The number of eggs yielded by a pike, of com'se, depends upon the 
size of the fish. Pennel (188G) stated that a pike produces about 
80,000 eggs, while Jardine (1898) placed the number at 100,000. 
Bloch counted in a pike weighing a little over 6 pounds 136,500 ova. 



22 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUT70N AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

and Bucklaiid found in a female weighing 28 pounds 292,;320 eggs 
and in another weighing 32 pounds 595,200 (Smitt, 1892). 

According to Smitt (1892), the eggs, which at fii'st are rather 
adhesive, he free on the bottom and in the spring (April) require 
al)out three weeks to hatch. Jardine says that the period extends 
from one to three weeks according to the temperature of the water. 

Notwithstanding the great fecmidity of the pike, Smitt was of the 
opinion that a great portion of the deposited roe is probably destroyed, 
committed as it is to the open watere, where it is exposed to many 
dangers. 

The newly hatched fry, wrote Sundevall (Smitt, 1892), is short 
and thick in shape with rather a large belly. The coloration is yel- 
lowish but quite transparent and densely pmiotated on the surface 
with l)lack dots, a dark band rumiuig from the eyes along the sides 
of the beUy. 

At first the larva remains almost quiescent, lying close to the sur- 
face of the water beside plants and floating straws and the like, to 
which it seems, as it were, to hang, or else at the bottom in less than 
an mch of water. On l)emg touched it swims rapidly a])0ut with 
hasty movements of the tail but soon resmnes its former position. 
In about 10 or 11 days the yolk is absorl^ed and the belly much re- 
duced m size but the head elongated and the mouth large. It now 
begms at once to swim more steadily, m the same maimer as its 
elder, and goes in quest of prey. It soon abandons the habit of lymg 
on the bottom or restmg alongside floatmg objects, repairs to some- 
what deeper water, remainmg for the most part stationary, as if on 
the watch for prey. It seizes small fishes and other aquatic animals 
of a size considerable enough in comparison with its own, but only 
leaps for those which it sees moving, just as m the case of older pike 
(Smitt, 1892). 

RATE OF GROWTH. 

According to Smitt ()892), the external form in which the specific 
oharactei-s of the pike may be traced seems to be fuUy developed at an 
age of nearly 2 months and a lengtli of about a Swedish inch (25 mm.). 
Subsequently the growth proceeds rapidly, as usual, at first, but with 
very considerable variations, depending on the different supply of 
food untler circumstances favoral)le in aU respects. According to 
some observations a 1-year pike is only 15 centimeters long, accord- 
ing to others 30 centmieters. Blanchere states the growth as follows: 

Maximum Length of the Pike. 

Meters. 

1 year old 0. 25-0. 30 

2 years old 3(>- . 42 

3 years old 55- . 60 

years old 1. 00 

12 years old 1. 35 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 23 

How widely sucli computations may differ appear from Ekstrom's 
observations. He fomid that pike fry 37 to 49 millimeters (about 
1.45 to 1.90 inclies) long, kept in a spring with muddy bottom, only 
attamed in 5 years the size of a common herring, but that a specimen 
15 centuneters (about 5.88 mches) long, kept m another spring with 
smaller fish to feed on, attamed in 5 years a length of 4 decimeters 
(about 15.70 mches). 

Whitmark gave a nmnber of statements from authorities m differ- 
ent parts of Germany showing the annual rate of growth of the pike, 
which appears to vaiy from 2 to 3 pounds, the maximum size attamed 
bemg from 40 to 70 pomids. He cited one mstance m which, in two 
summers, a few individuals liberated in a pond full of a species of 
carp grew from the weight of If to that of about 10 pomids. 

Frank Buckland was of the opuiion that pikes did not become egg- 
bearmg under the weight of 3 pounds (Jardine, 1898). 

CULTURE AND CONSERVATION. 

Notwithstanding its growing scarcity, the idea of any need of cul- 
ture or conservation appears not to have been generally entertained. 
Apparently no attempts at artificial propagation have been made. 

In the words of Forbes (1908), this noble fish, completely and almost 
ideally equipped for the predatory life, has now nearly disappeared 
from the larger and muddier streams of Illinois, but it is still found 
in abundance in the headwaters of the Kankakee and in the small 
glacial lakes of the northeastern part of the State. 

Chambers (1896) regarded it as fortunate that in many of the Lake 
St. Jolm waters, where it has been systematically fished during recent 
years, the pike is very much less abundant than formerly. 

In New England, about 1838, the fish, it seems, was transplanted 
from Lake Champlam into a pond ooimected with Black River, Wmd- 
sor County, Vt., and thence carried by a freshet mto the Comiecticut 
River. In 1846 Dr. Storer (1848) reported the capture of this species 
m the Coimecticut River, a specmien having been sent to him by Mr. 
William Henry, of Bellows Falls, Vt. Mr. Henry reported that he 
had known, in some seasons, 100 or more to be taken at Bellows Falls, 
weighmg from 1 to 14 pomids each. 

There are probably other mstances of its havmg been trans- 
planted, but its artificial propagation has not been encouraged in 
this comitry. However, regarding the British pike, Jardine (1898) 
wrote that inland lakes, ponds, and brooks were lymg useless and 
pike would well repay cultivation in them, for they grow and fatten 
with great rapidity. 

FOOD QUALITIES. 

As a food fish the pike is of no small value. The flesh is white, 
firm, wholesome, and comparatively free from bones. Fresh pike is 
by no means a bad dish, and the flesh has advantage over that of 



24 THE PIKES: DTSTEIBTTTION" AND COMMF.RCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

many other fishes. It may he kept for a lono; time, without deteri- 
oratmg, in a salted or dried condition. 

Herbert (1849) said that it is coarse, watery, and of small value 
on the table. 

Preble said (1908) that in the Athabasca and Mackenzie region, a 
region of excellent food fishes, it is not higlily esteemed, but being 
easily captm-ed it is often a means of preventing much suffering from 
famine. 

Benecke (1880 and 1885) stated that only the young rapidly grow- 
ing pikes are edible, the old ones being dry and tasteless. 

Jardine (1898) cited the "Analysis tables of the food collection" at 
Bethnal Green Museum in support of his statement that the pike is 
a nutritious food, containing more nitrogenous or muscle-forming 
qualities than meat, and he added that as an adjunct to the domestic 
bill of fare a small pike from 5 to 8 pounds' weight, caught during 
November or the next three months, wdien fat and nicely cooked, is 
a dish by no means to be despised. 

AS A GAME FISH. 

Go where pike can be found, fish for them with legitimate tackle, 
give them a fair chance, and they will afford as much pleasure as any 
royal smallmouth bass that ever swam (Tomlin, 1892). Cheney 
(1896) wTote that the pike and pickerel had not been hatched in this 
country, but that the pike was cultivated in Germany by artificial 
methods and is regarded more highly in Europe than in this country. 
He explained that the reason for this is that we have such a great 
number of so-called game fishes considerably superior to the pike that 
the latter has been relegated to an inferior position. However, the 
pike has its loyal adherents who regard it highly as a rod fish and as 
a table fish. 

EASTERN PICKEREL (Esor rrliruhifus). 

The eastern pickerel has a comparatively limited natural geo- 
graphical distribution. It is believed originally to have been re- 
stricted to the fresh waters of the Atlantic seaboard, being commonly 
found everywhere east and south of the iVlleglieny Mountains from 
southwestern Maine to Florida. 

Aided by man its range has been extended tlux)ughout the southern 
half of Maine and even farther north into tlie lower waters of the 
St. John Iliver, into New Brunswick, and elsewhere. Thompson (1842 
and 1850) did not record its being found in Lake Champlain, l)ut 
stated that it was the common pickerel on the east side of tlie Green 
Mountains, as Esox lucius was on the other. 

However, it has since been reported in Missisc[uoi Bay (Evermann 
and Kendall, 1902) and in the St. Lawrence as long ago as ISGo 



THE PIKES: DTSTRTBUTTON' AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 25 

(Fortin, 1864). It has also been recorded in one locality in Lake 
Ontario (Evermann and Kendall, 1901). 

Occurring as it does so commonly in the St. Lawrence, it is peculiar 
that it is not more common in the northern tributary waters, but 
Halkett (1913) does not definitely record it at aU, and Nash (1908) 
states that he has not met with it elsewhere than in the neighborhood 
of Toronto, where he has taken a few specimens. 

LOCAL NAMES. 

A common book name given this pike is chain pickerel, l^ut in 
New England it is almost if not quite invariably known as pickerel. 
It is, perhaps, the grass pike of the St. Lawrence and the green pike 
of some other localities. It is commonly called jack in the south, the 
term being probably an early importation from England, where small 
pike are often so denominated. Smith (1907) mentioned pike, red- 




FIG. 4.— EASTERN P\CKEREL {Esox reiiculatus). 

finned pike, black pike, duck-billed pike, and jack as names in com- 
mon use in the Albemarle region of North Carolina. He explained 
that old specimens living in deep, shady water were designated as 
black pike by the commercial fishermen. Bean (1902) said it is the 
federation pike of Oneida Lake, N. Y. 

CIIARACTERISTirS. 

The scales on the cheeks and opercles easily distinguish this fish 
from the muskeUunge or pike, but not from the otlier two species of 
pickerel. From these the adult may be always distinguished by the 
reticulated black or brownish lines on the sides. Younger fish do not 
show these marks, but are also banded, the cross bands ])eing wider 
and, consequently, fewer than in either of the others. The structural 
distinguishing characters have already been indicated. A well-con- 
ditioned pickerel, with its green and golden hues and dark markings, 
is a beautiful fish. 

SIZE. 

Ayres (1844) gave an account of phenomenally large examples. He 
said that on February 28, 1842, he examined a pickerel which had 
been caught in the Hockanum River, about 2 miles east of Hartford, 



26 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

Conn., wliicli ho claimed was " an undoubted retimlatus of Le Sueur." 
It was 38 inches in length and weighed 14 pounds. He stated that 
this was the largest example of the species which had ever come under 
his observation with one exception. The largest of which he had ever 
heard as occurring in the Eastern States was taken in the spring of 
1842 near Greenfield, Mass., which weighed 20 pounds. These might 
be accepted as authentic records were it not for the fact that the 
introduced pike had become fairly common in the Connecticut River 
in 1846 in the vicinity of Bellows Falls, Vt., and had found its way 
down perhaps into these tributaries. This fact lends an element of 
doubt to the question, preventing acceptance of the records as 
authentic, although Dr. Ayi'es was an accomplished ichthyologist. 
However, ichthyologists have been known to make worse mistakes. 

Storer (1853) said that the largest pickerel seen by him were speci- 
mens weighing 7 pounds brought from Brewster, Cape Cod. Even 
larger ones were reported to have been found there. 

Pickerel weighing as high as 8 pounds have been authentically 
reported, but such size is uncommon and fishes accounted large will 
not usually exceed half that weight. Two and three pound pickerel 
are about the average in waters of ordinary suitability to the fish. 
However, bocUes of water differ m respect to their suitability, and in 
some the largest fish will not exceed a pound and in others much 
larger fish are common. 

HABITAT AND HABITS. 

Habitat. — The usual haunts of the pickerel are weedy streams and 
bays or coves of lakes. In some lakes small and medium sized pickerel 
occur in the shallow coves, where they lurk under lily pads or amongst 
the rushes and sedges. Often larger fish occur along rocky shores 
contiguous to deep water, especially if there are fallen trees, brush, or 
bowlders to afford concealment. It has, also, been caught on the 
rocky shoals of an open lake. 

In some streams, while it is most abundant in the sluggish, dead 
waters where aquatic vegetation is profuse, it is not infrequently 
found well up ui (piickcr water if the character of the shores or 
growth there provides concoahnent. 

In North Carolma, Smith (1907) stated that its favorite haunts are 
creeks, coves, and bayous contauiing grasses and broad-leaved 
water plants, under which it lurks. 

Where natural or artificial obstructions do not exist, the pickerel 
will sometimes make its way to extreme headwaters. Adult pickerel 
a foot in length have been taken near the spring source of a stream 
where it was not over 2 feet wide and only a few niches deep, but 
fuU of pondweed. However, pickerel will not ofteii traverse rapids 
or long extents of rips, and those found far upstream, as just de- 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION" AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 27 

scribed, probal)ly reached those places for self-protection while 
young fish. The very young, just as in the case of many other fishes, 
find their way into the shallowest waters and mouths of brooks 
entering the lake, probably from neighbormg localities where they 
were born. 

According to Mr. Frank Todd, of St. Stevens, New Brmiswick,« 
a few years after the introduction of pickerel into the St. Croix 
Lakes, for a nmnber of years a good many individuals of large size 
were taken by weirs and by hook in salt water some 6 or 8 miles 
below the head of tidewater. At the time of writing, however, some 
15 years since the introduction of the fish into that region, they had 
greatly decreased co incidentally with the pickerel of the fresh waters. 

Food and feeding.^The prmcipal subsistence of adult pickerel 
consists mainly of other fishes, although it includes many other 
animals in its bill of fare, such as frogs and other batrachians or, in 
fact, any livmg thmg moving m the water within reach which it can 
capture and handle. According to Smith (1907), m the spring about 
Albermarle Sound, this fish feeds chiefly upon alewives. 

Like other members of the family, this pickerel is accomited an 
extremely voracious and destructive fish, but it is seldom found 
gorged with food, as is the salmon and trout, although it sometimes 
proves itself successfully ambitious respecting the size of the object 
it swallows — swallowing, as it were, on the instalhnent plan. Wlien 
ravenous, it does not hesitate to seize a fish at least half as large as 
itself or so large that a portion of the fish may be seen protruding 
from the pickerel's mouth as the remainder is being digested m the 
stomach. In Umbagog Lake, of Mauie and New Hampshire, of 
numerous pickerel examined, those that contained any food at all 
usually had small suckers. Three pickerel — 11, 12, and 15|^ niches 
long — caught in a stream in the vicinity of Freeport, Me., contained 
only aquatic insect larvse. A 2-pound pickerel caught at the mouth 
of Sebois River, a tributary to the east branch of the Penobscot in 
Maine, contauied a hornpout (Ameiurus nehulosus) about 4 inches 
long, and in one weighing 2^ pounds, taken in the Wissatoquoik 
Deadwater of the east branch, was found a smaller hornpout. 

The character of the food of young and adolescent pickerel may 
be mfeiTed from the following examples: At Sebago Lake two pickerel 
about 23 inches long each, contauied small insect larvae and small 
crustaceans, and one about 5.8 inches in length had only a tmy fish 
in its stomach. One less than 2.5 inches long contained a young 
sucker, apparently partly digested, about one-half an inch in lengths 
One about 3.2 inches in length contained one sunfish {Lepomis 
gihhosus) about nine-tenths of an inch long, swallowed head first, 
and one 4.7 niches in length had fed upon nothuig but insect larvae 

a Forest and Stream, vol. vin, June 21, 1877, p. 320. 



28 THE PIKES: DTSTRIBUTTON AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

and amphipods, small crustaceans very common in the brook in 
which the fish were found. At Umbagog Lake many young pickerel 
ranguig from 2 to 4 niches long were found to })o feeding exclusively 
upon Entomostraca and msect larv?e. 

Of eight examples, from 4.25 to 6.37 inches ui length, caught at the 
same time and in the same place, six contained fishes, four of which 
were young pickerel. Of another lot a 4.25-inch fish had also a 
young pickerel 3 inches long in its almientary tract; one 5.37 niches 
long also contamed a pickerel 3 inches long; another 5.87 niches 
long, besides other thmgs, had a pickerel 2.06 inches in length hi its 
stomach; still another 5.62 inches hi length contamed two small 
niumows; one 6.37 inches long had in its stomach one pickerel 3 
inches long and one shmer 2.5 mchcs in length; and another 7.5 
niches long contamed a 1.5 inch hornpout. Other instances were 
those m which one 7.5 niches long contained the head of a small 
chub and one 9^ mches long had a 2.3 inch pickerel hi its stomach. 

The foregomg suggests a cannibalistic tendency even hi very 
young fish, which is maintahied throughout life owmg to the pre- 
viously mentioned fact that, when feeding, the pickerel will attack 
any accessible moving object. Pickerel, however, are not always 
fcedmg, and apparently go without feedmg for periods of days, or at 
least, durmg the time hi such periods as they are mider observation. 
Probably, its himger having been satisfied, like many other fishes, it 
refrahis from eatmg for a considerable period. When it takes its 
food it does so with a rush, and if the food is a fish the pickerel 
grasps it crosswise, then stops and works its victhn around so that 
it is swallowed head first. 

Breeding. — The breeding places of the pickerel are shallow coves, 
mouths of inlets, approaches to outlets, and sometimes in over- 
flowed areas, in water from 3 to 10 feet deep, but not always in 
the same places eacli year. Sometimes the eggs are deposited 
among the roots of submerged tree stumps, the lu'anches of fallen 
trees or bushes, water plants, and occasionally on gravel or in 
the crevices among I'ocks. Here, according to Tomlin (]S02a), 
the fisli are found in pail's, gently swimming to ajid fro, rub])ing 
><i(h> by side until the female is ready to spawn. Similar to the perch, 
the eggs are laid in glutinous strings of a yellowisli-white color, 
which often form large masses and have been seen clinging to sub- 
merged l)ushes in great mats or long strings. Strings of pickerel 
eggs observed l)y the collector of the Pennsylvania Fish Commission 
(1907) were said to average from 2 to 9 feet in length. Most pub- 
lished statements regarding the spawning time of pickerel are rather 
indefinite, as in "winter and spring." It is quite possible that 
southward it does spawn in late winter. However, the report of a 
commissioner of Massachusetts (1870) staled that Mi'. Stone found 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 29 

the pickerel ripe in the heginiiin<? of May. In Pennsylvania they 
were foimd to begin to spawn from the middle of April until the early 
part of May, depending upon the locality and season. 

The female fish appear to preponderate over the males, according 
to observations cited by the Massachusetts Fish Commissioners 
(1870): 

This fish, to its other disagreeable and contrary qualities, adds the tendency to 
multiply females, whereby the spawn crop is increased. Among many individuals 
examined last si)ring it was rare to find a male, not ofteuer, certainly, than 1 in 14. 

KATE OF GROWTH. 

The rate of growth of the pickerel, like that of any fish, depends 
much upon the available food supply and to some extent upon the 
temperature of the water. TomUn (lS92a) said that as soon as 
they are able to take care of themselves they show the family like- 
ness and begin their bold predacious attacks upon the fry of the 
silver chub and shiner family. 

The Massachusetts Fish Commission rejjorted (1870) that its rate of 
growth seems to vary with the temperature. In a pond fed by a 
large spring brook, when there was enough food but cold water 
their growth seemed slow. In support of the statement the following 
table was given: 



Age. 



Length. 



Weight. 



1 year. . 

2 years. 

3 years . 

4 years . 

5 years . 

6 years . 



Inches. 


Ounces. 


4. .5 


0.5 


7 


1.5 


10 


4 


13.5-14.5 


8-12 


17.5 


24 


20 


40 



On the other hand, it was stated that in a large warm pond, cov- 
ered with lily pads and fuH of yomig alewives, pickerel have reached 
4 and 5 pounds in three years. 

FOOD QUALITIES. 

As a food fish it is variously esteemed, by some being regarded as 
an excellent fish and by others as decidedly inferior. In regard 
to this, it may be said that much depends upon conditions. A 
pickerel of moderate size from fresh cool water is not to be compared 
with one that has lain all day in the sun or a week or two in cold 
storage or a day or two on the market stand. 

Storer (1853) said: ''This fine species is the common pickerel of 
Massachusetts * * * .^j^j jg everywhere valued." 

Bean (1902 and 1902a) said that as a food fish not much can be 
said in praise of the chain pickerel, though it is eaten by some and 



30 THE PIKES : DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

liked by a great many people, and, again, that in some parts of New 
York it is little esteemed, but in other portions of the State it in 
considered a fairly good fish and furnishes sport for the angler. 

Whatever its food qualities, it is persistently sought throughout the 
year in localities where no restrictions are placed on the fishing and 
everywhere throughout the prescribed open season and is a common 
fish in some markets of the East and South. Smith (1907) stated 
that in North Carolina considerable (puintities are marketed, but it 
does not rank high, the flesh being coarse and filled with minute 
bones. 

In the writer's experience the pickerel has always been found to 
be an excellent fish when fresh from Maine waters and properly 
cooked. While small fish might be objected to on account of bones, 
ho has not found them more troublesome in that respect than in 
many other small fishes. 

PROPAGATION. 

It appears that only the Fish Commission of Pennsylvania has 
ever considered the pickerel worthy of artificial propagation. At- 
tempts were made in that direction as early as in 1901, but it was not 
until about 1905 that nmch success was attained. Tlie reason for 
the attempt at artificial propagation of the pickerel is stated in the 
annual report of the commissioner (William E. Meehan) for 1905, 
pages 57-59 (1906) as follows: 

Between 40 and 50 years ago nearly all the sluggish waters in eastern Pennsylvania 
teemed with pickerel, especially the streams near the border line of New Jersey. 
Three-fourths of the natural mountain lakes also contained large numbers of this 
fierce but excellent food fish. The pickerel in the streams were soon wdped out, so that 
25 years ago it was rare to find a pickerel in any of this type of water, except occasional 
"strays." With very few exceptions there has been a rapidly diminishing supply 
in the mountain lakes. Destructive methods of fishing undoubtedly have been the 
one i^otent cause for this marked reduction, another was that no efforts were made 
to restock. 

At fu'st vain attempts were made to retain pickerel in ponds or 
pens until they became ripe and to retain them afterwards as breeders, 
but it was found impossil^le to supply them with the required living 
food. Therefore, they l)egan to search for their eggs where the pick- 
erel had deposited them naturally. These were collected and con- 
veyed to the hatchery, where they were placed in hatching jars. 
At fh^st the Downing jar was used, but later one devised by the com- 
missioner himself, which was found to be more effective. The jars 
were arranged in the form of "batteries," as in the case of whitefish 
or perch. 

It was stated to have been found to be remarkal^ly easy to hatch 
])ickerel eggs, as only a very small flow of water was required. How- 
ever, constant vigilance chiy and night was necessary, for as soon as the 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 31 

eggs began to eye they became seniibiioyant and often boiiyant, and 
unless prevented the eggs would have flowed out of the jars into the 
troughs and been lost. This the whole batch was liable to do in a 
few minutes. The flow of water tlu-ough the jars must be barely 
enough to slightly move the eggs. It was in permitting this gentle 
flow that the Meehan jar was an improvement over the Downing jar, 
wliich required consideraljle force of the water to operate. 

Although a strong flow of water was impracticaljle and a light flow 
necessary, the latter had to bo augmented by some stnring of the 
eggs in order to prevent their smothering just before the hatching 
period. Tliis was accomplished by occasionally rotating the glass 
tubes that supphed the water, thus producing better circulation and 
a change of position of the eggs. 

The eggs were found to hatch in about a week or 10 days, varying 
somewhat with the temperature of the water, and were fomid to hatch 
equaUy well whether they came into the station clean or dirty. It 
was found that it was very injurious to attempt to wash the eggs when 
brought in. They had to be placed in the jars together with what 
sticks, weeds, etc., were clinging to them. At fu-st in transporting 
the eggs from the lake to the hatchery cans were used, but later the 
eggs were retained in floating boxes until the conveyance came for 
them, when they were packed in egg cases and carried to the hatchery. 

It seems that after 1910 pickerel propagation practically ceased 
in Pennsylvania. To indicate, however, the magnitude to wliich it 
had attained at that time, it may be said that in 1909 there were 
distributed 300,150,000 pickerel fry and the number in 1910 amounted 
to 226,100,000. In 1914 the only distribution of this species was 
85 adult fish. 

CONSERVATION. 

In some States the pickerel has always had more or less nominal 
protection of the law. In some, perhaps it may be said in most, 
communities pickerel fisliing has been a favorite pursuit of local 
residents, particularly in winter, both for the sport and for their 
tables. In the North pickerel was formerly caught to some extent 
for the market. However, in aU locahties there have been those 
who derogated the fish to the lowest degree. These were usuaUy 
anglers who preferred other fish and fish culturists who beheved that 
to all the allegations regarding its rapacity and destructiveness much 
more that had not been said could be added were their language 
adequate. Even to-day fish culturists have inherited the ancient 
beliefs and antipathies against the pickerel, which were based upon a 
small amount of truth and a great amount of fallacy. 

But there have always been and stiU are those who want pickerel 
fishing and demand its protection and some who have wanted and 
those who now want the fishing without the protection. Some of 



32 THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

these facts are at the bottom of stated antagonistic behefs and recom- 
mendations. The intricacies in politics involve even the fishes of 
the waters. One State fish commissioner's report calls attention to 
"much dissatisfaction regarding ice fisliing. Many of our best 
sportsmen claim that the fishing for pickerel in waters that have been 
closed for a number of years is not as good to-day as before they were 
closed, different theories being advanced as to the cause." 

Those interested in the pickerel and pickerel fishing have been 
forced to recognize that in a great many if not nearly all pickerel 
waters, where they once abounded and attained a largo size, they 
have diminished in numbers and deteriorated in size. One or two 
examples will serve as illustration of facts well known, at least 
locally. As long ago as 1898 the wi'iter made some observations 
and inquiries nt Sebago Lake, Me, There an old resident fish- 
erman uiformed him that pickerel were once abundant and of a 
much larger size in the lake and some of its tributary waters. By 
whiter ice fishhig they still caught some pickerel in the lake. Fish 
weighing 3 or 4 pounds each and the year before one of 7 pomids 
had been caught, but such fish were seldom seen in recent years. 
The lower part of the vSongo River also harlx)red many large fish, 
but at this time one much over a pound in weight was a rarity. 
The pickerel observed by the writer in this place were small, poor, 
and often greatly emaciated, a fact thnt was surprisuig inasmuch as 
small minnows were very numerous in the so-called " bogs" or bayous 
where the pickerel were found. This latter fact is not easily ex- 
plained, but the scarcity in both lake and Songo waters may be 
accredited to excessive fishing, particularly in the winter and in those 
days when market fishing was permitted. This was possible, not- 
withstanding the large size of the lake, owing to the fact that congenial 
pickerel waters hi the lake were Umited in number and restricted in 
area. The pickerel is supposed to have been indigenous to Sebago 
waters. Another lake in which pickerel were introduced may be 
cited as an example of deterioration. This is Umbagog Lake, the 
lowermost of the famous Rangeley chain of lakes. Umbagog is the 
only one inhabited by this fish, where they are reputed to have once 
l)een abundant and of large size, but as early as 1883 there were 
comi:)laints of growuig scarcity and the small size of the fish caught. 
To all appearances the conditions are ideally favorable for pickerel, 
which is supported by the fact of their former increase in number 
and size. Observations made there in 1905 by the present writer 
indicated that the claims of decrease and deterioration were true. 
Some remarkable explanations have now and then been offered. 

There are two authentic reports of epidemic mortality among the 
pickerel due to unknown causes. One explanation was that pickerel 
liad been suddenly frozen to death, but no explanation is offered 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION" AND COMMERCIAL IMPOETANCE. 33 

wliy other fish wore not affected. A contributor to a sportsman's 
paper (Mame Woods, 1907) offered a decidedly striking explanation 
of the decrease of Umbagog Lake pickerel: 

It is a well-known fact that the pickerel that inhabit Umbagog Lake are dying 
off rapidly. One man who is familiar with the lake advances the theory that they 
are being killed by hornpouts and this in a very peculiar way. This man says there 
are millions of hornpouts in Umbagog and that the pickerel devour them. He says: 
"The horns on the hornpout are always straightened out when the fish is in trouble, 
and this causes the death of the pickerel"— ^that they are "hooked to death." 

It is doubtful if this hornpout is even a contributory factor in the 
death of the fish, and certainly there would not be epidemics of 
"hooking to death." The cause of such epidemics must be sought 
for by careful study of the fish and prevailing conditions, and even 
then it may not be revealed. 

A gradual decrease in number and size of fish is more easily 
explained. The habits of the pickerel expose it to more dangers 
than are incm-red by most other kinds of fresh-water fishes. To 
whatever extent it does or does not sustam its reputation for fierce 
and gluttonous voracity, those very qualities are its undoing. \Yhat- 
ever may have been its ability to maintain its existence in undisturbed 
natural conditions before man's attention was directed its way, the 
ease with which it is caught with any kind of lure, particularly in the 
winter and spring when congregated in restricted areas, have been 
decidedly adverse factors. Wholesale ice fishing has hastened its 
decrease by the destruction of practically every fish in the limited 
area and those larger fish which would have spawned that spring. 
Here, too, is the cause of decrease in size. The majority of large fish 
are caught, few succeed in spawning, and their progeny are in turn 
caught before they have had time to reach a large size. Conse- 
quently, there is a progressive decrease in number and size. While 
those that succeed in breedhig deposit large numbers of eggs, doubtless 
but few survive. The character of the egg masses and their exposed 
situation in shallow water subject them to the ravages of other fishes, 
such as suckers, chubs, perch, etc., as well as reptiles and waterfowl. 

A superintendent of one of the Pennsylvania hatcheries wrote that 
he estimated that fully 10 per cent of eggs deposited are devoured 
by other fishes before they are hatched and that storms sometimes 
sweep the eggs from where they are deposited and float them ashore, 
where they rot. He stated that he had seen hundreds of milhons 
of eggs thus washed ashore and lost. But the reduction does not 
end there, for the fry from the time it is hatched is the common 
prsy not only of various fishes, includmg its own kind, but also of 
reptiles, birds, and other animals. One would not suspect the 
common, toothless, innocent chub or so-called dace (Semotilus 
bullaris) of being a serious enemy of a fish that has been stated to 



34 THE PIKES: DISTHIBUHOISr AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

be able to take care of itseK. Nevertheless, the present writer has 
observed chubs feeding upon young pickerel and has caught a dozen 
or so of these fish, of about one-half to 1 pound weight each, and 
found them gorged with pickerel 2 or 3 inches long. He has also 
seen a young pickerel chased and driven liigh and dry on a sand bar 
by a trout. The pickerel, a fish about 4 inches long, was secured 
and used as a bait by which the trout, which was about 10 inches 
long, was caught. The foregoing is sufficient to suggest that if the 
pickerel is to be saved several things are necessary. Constant 
increase or maintenance of numbers is possible only when adverse 
conditions are less or exactly equal to the favorable conditions. 
Maximum size is attained by any fish only when it is provided with 
sufficient food and room in which to grow and when it meets no 
check in its career. In other words, that means wiien favorable con- 
ditions preponderate over unfavorable. 

One of the most potent of unfavorable ct^mlitions is that of um'e- 
strict ed fishing. The fish must be protected sufficiently to permit 
enough to breed to maintain the stock, and the eggs and young 
should also receive protection so far as possible. It doubtless has 
become evident that the waiter's views regarding the pickerel are 
more faA-orable to it than are those of many. Yet he would not 
advise introducing the fish into waters which contain other desirable 
fishes, particularly if those waters are small. In fact, he would not 
recommend it for pond culture at all, owing to the fact that for it to 
reach the desired perfection in size and cjuality and in suftlcient num- 
bers to inake it worth while a Lirge body of water well supplied with 
natm-al food is necessary. 

It is advised that good natural pickerel waters should be kept in 
that condition or, if deteriorated, restored to the normal state, for 
having l)een naturally favorable for pickerel they are better for that 
fish than for any other that could be introduced. In order, however, 
to meet these requirements, the waters must be more than little 
ponds. They must be good-sized lakes or streams unless the stock 
is to be kept up by artificial jiropagation of both the pickerel and its 
food. 

This article would be incomplete without a reference to the alleged 
usurpation of trout waters l)y ]nckerel. The present writer has pre- 
viously had occasion to comment on this matter. He wrote (1913) 
that there is scarcely a body of water in which trout once lived and 
where ]>ickerel now occur that the depletion of the trout has not 
been ascribed to the pickerel. It undoubtedly eats other fishes, and 
there arc few fishes that do not. But the habits of the pickerel are 
such that it is not nearly so detrimental to other fish life as some 
other species held in higher regard, and the pickerel in large bodies 
of water become still less harmful. It is not much of a wanderer. 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE, 35. 

It does not rush about in marauding bands seeking what it may de- 
vour. It hes in wait and siezes what comes its w^ay when it is inchned 
to feed, yet often schools of tempting shiners have been seen swim- 
ming unharmed in apparently dangerous proximity to big pickerel 
heads. Again he wi'ote (1894) that dm-ing most of the year it resorts 
to waters uncongenial to trout, and at all times it prefers such waters. 
A warm, muddy" pond or stream with profuse grow^th of aquatic veg- 
etation is its favorite abode. Trout can not exist long in such sur- 
roundings. In weedy waters where trout manage to exist pickerel 
w^ill also thrive, but trout will lie in the cooler, clear portions, while 
pickerel seek the water i^lants and shallow water. In most instances 
it would seem that the pickerel is not the whole, though possibly an 
accessory, cause of the disappearance of trout, and harm done by 
pickerel is overestimated. The injurious effect of pickerel upon trout 
and salmon is more often indu'ect than direct, especially when it ap- 
pears in congenial waters where trout or salmon are barely main- 
taining themselves or decreasing. The indu-ect influence is u]ion the 
food supply, and this ultimately reverts upon the pickerel itself. It 
is an ahnost invariable rule that in time, after a period of increase in 
numbers and size, pickerel begin to decrease owing to diminution of 
the food supply.^ 

Referring to the same subject a number of years ago, after expres- 
sing similar sentiments to the foregoing, the writer remarked that 
excessive and destructive methods of fishing (to which should have 
been added untimely fishing), pollution of the waters, and the de- 
struction of forests are far more fatal to trout life than their natural 
enemies. 

AS A GAME FISH. 

If the pickerel is not on the list of honor as a game fish, it is entitled 
to the distinction of being an exceedingly good sport fish. As for its 
game qualities even, in its way, it })ossesses some characteristics that 
equal the much-lauded trout. In fact, the writer has more thau once 
found to his surprise that a pickerel was on his hook instead of the 
expected trout. The actions are much the same. If the tackle con- 
sists of the customary long bamboo or stiff wooden pole, stout line, 
and large hook, and the fish is lifted from the water by main strength, 
it must be confessed that in this kind of fishing ])iscatorial poets 
would find little inspiration. But use a light casting rod, a slender 
bait rod, or even a fly rod with about the same weight of line as one 
would employ for trout of like size, and no disappointment will be 
experienced regarding the gameness of the fish. 

oThe word "muddy" here does not refer to roily water, but to a muddy bottom, and "warm'' is a com- 
parative term meaning warmer than trout waters. 

6 This discussion refers mainly to comparativelys mall lakes or streams into which the pickerel have been 
introduced. 



36 THE PIKES: DISTEIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPOETANCE. 

BANDED PICKEREL {Esox aitierkanus). 
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION . 

This little fisli has a somewhat more restricted geographical dis- 
tribution than the eastern pickerel. Its stated range (Jordan and 
Evermann, 1896) is from Massachusetts to Florida in lowland streams 
and swamps. It is found only east of the Allegheny Mountains, the 
westernmost record being from Escambia River at Flomaton, Ala. 
It may be added, the northernmost locality from which it has been 
reported is Lake Bomessen, Vt. (Kendall, 1908). Whether it is indig- 
enous there the writer is not infonned. 

NAMES. 

Bean (1902) said that it is probably identical with the ''mackerel 
picker<4" of Mitchill. Storer (1853) called it the "smaller pickerel," 
and it is referred to as the troutnose pickerel. Herbert (1849) and 
others mention it under the name of Long Island pickerel. Smith 
(1907) cited pike, red-fumed pike, and jack as North Carolina names. 



-=*^^ 




FIG. 5.— BANDED PICKEREL (f.xoj amrnVawMs). 
SIZES. 

Most references state that it rarely exceeds a foot in length or it 
rarely exceeds a pound in weight. Herbert (1849) said that a pound 
was greatly above the average weight, which was probably not more 
than one-half pound. 

HABITAT AND HABITS. 

Ilahitat. — The local lial)itat of this species is m general essentially 
the same as that of the eastern pickerel. It is found in shallow water 
amongst water plants, etc. 

Bean (1902) said that it is especially plentiful in certain tidal 
creeks of Long Island, and Eugene Smith reports that it is often 
found m brackish water in the vicinity of New York, where it is 
browai in color. 

Herbert (1849) described an mdividual which he stated was caught 
in a not in the salt water of Newark Bay. He wrote that it weighed 
somethuig over a pcnmd and a half and that it was in the finest con- 
dition. Its color, however, was remarkable, for the back and sides 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE, 37 

down to the lateral line were of the richest and most lustrous copper 
color, paling on the sides into bright hrazen yellow, with the belly of a 
silvery whiteness. The cheeks, gill covers, and fins all partook of 
the same coppery tone, and the whole fish was far more lucent and 
metallic than any of the family previously seen by hkn. There was 
not the slightest mdication of any transvei"se bars or any mottUngs 
nor was there any of that sea-green color which is so peculiar to the 
pike family. 

Habits. — Its breedmg or feeding habits have not been specifically 
described, but they are probably very similar to those of the eastern 
pickerel. Smith (1907), wiiting of the North Carolma fish, stated 
that its food is chiefly mimiows, with which the stomach is often 
gorged. 

FOOD AND GAME QUALITIES. 

Bean (1902) wrote that the little banded pickerel is a fish seldom 
exceedmg 10 inches in length, with flaky, white flesh, very few bones, 
and with delicious flavor, and ihat it is well worthy of the attention 
of fish culturists. 

Smith (1907) said that in North Carolina it was of less importance 
as a food and game fish than Esox reticulatus, 

Storer (1853) wrote that it was not infrequently noticed in Boston 
market, and that it was so similar to the reticulatus that it had pre- 
viously been considered to be the young of that species. 

LITTLE PICKEREL (Esox vermiculatus) . 
GEOGRxVPHICAL DISTRIBUTION. 

Accordmg to Bean (1902), its range is the valleys of the Ohio and 
Mississippi and streams flowing into the Great Lakes. He stated 
that Cope mentioned that it is also found in the Susquehanna, of 
which river it is probably not a native. 

Forbes (1908) stated that its general range includes the tributaries 
of Lake Erie and Lake Michigan, extending thence southward to the 
Tennessee, Escambia,"' and White Rivers and, according to Ever- 
mann and Cox, to the Neuse River on the Atlantic slope." 

It is stated (Evermann a^id KendaU, 1901 and 1902) to be rather 
common in all suitable waters of Lake Ontario and is recorded from 
Black Creek at Scriba Corner; Lake View, West Oswego; Wart 
Creek near Buena Vista; Great Sodus Bay; outlet of Long Pond 
near Charlotte; and Marsh Creek near Point Breeze, N. Y. 

Cox does not record it from Minnesota, but Tomlin (1892a) wi-ote: 
"While fishing in a Mmnesota lake one summer evening, I found a 

o It is a noticeable coincidence that the Escambia River is given as a locality for both Esox americanus 
and Esoi vermiculatus, and it is remarkable that it should be recorded from the Neuse River east of the 
Alleghenies distinctly in the range of Esox americanus. These records support the idea advanced by a stu- 
dent of these fishes, to which reference was previously made, to the effect that the two are specifically 
identical. 



38 THE PIKES : DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

school of trout-pickerel * * * common in this lake, and it was 
a handsome, clean fish." 

NAMES. 

Forbes (1908) referred to it as httle pickerel and grass pike. Tliis 
latter name appears also in many other publications. It is apparently 
the common name apphed to it in the Pennsylvania Fish Com- 
mission's reports. Bean mentioned it also under the name of trout 
pickerel. 

SIZE. 

Tlie general statements regarding its size are that it never attains 
a length of over 12 inches. 

HABITAT AND HABITS. 

Ilahltaf. —AccoTding to Forbes (1908), it has a noticeable pref- 
ence for cpiiet and muddy water, and a greater part of his collections 




FIG. 6— LITTLE P\CKEREL {Esoi vcrmiculatus). 

were stated to have come from the weedy branches of tiie Embar- 
ros. Little Wabash, and Big Muddy in eastern and central Illinois. 
He wrote that it also occurred occasionally in the main stream of the 
Ilhnois or in the muddy overflow ponds of the bottoms. Indeed, 
large numbers of this fish are annuMly destroyed by the drying up 
of such ponds after the overflow. 

Fading. — Forbes (1908) stated that the feeding mechanism of 
this little species is a reduced copy of that of the destructive and 
voracious common pike, and its food, as illustrated by 18 speci- 
mens, seems to be of a purely animal nature. Two of these had 
eaten frog tadpoles and eight had taken fishes, one of wliicli was a 
cyprinoid minnow, one a sunfish, and the other a common top min- 
now (Gambusia) of the southern part of the State. The remaining 
food was mostly composed of the larger aquatic insects. Amphipods 
and isopod crustaceans have been found in the stomachs of other 
specimens taken from Quiver Lake, near Havana. 

Breeding. — Nothing definite appears to have been pubhshcd 
regarding the breeding habits of this species. Forbes (1908) stated 
that it apparently spawns early and ripe individuals of both sexes 
had been seen ])y him in March. 



THE PIKES: DISTEIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 



39 



PROPAGATION. 

The Pennsylvania Commission (1906) at one of its hatcheries 
undertook to hatch the eggs of the grass pike, and it was stated 
that no difficulty was found in taldng the eggs but great difficulty 
was experienced in keeping them from sticking owing to their gluti- 
nous character. For some years more or less adult grass pike have 
been distributed by this commission. 



FOOD AND GAME QUALITIES. 

A Pennsylvania report (1906) states that it is a valuable fish. 
It is rather small to figure much as a game fish. 

COMMERCIAL FISHERIES FOR THE PIKES. 

The various early statistical reports afford but httle definite data 
regarding any of these fishes, owing to confusion of local names and 
the combination of very different species under the common head- 
ing of "pike and pickerel/' when very frequently one or the other 
refers to the pike perch. For this reason no general comparative 
statistics can be compiled. However, the tlu*ee larger species have 
always been of some local commercial value. 

Pike.- — The U. S. census of 1908 gives four cU visions in which '' pike 
and pickerel" figure. The total catch for the United States, accord- 
ing to these figures, w^as 2,959,000 pounds, valued at $194,000, 
excluding the Atlantic coast division, winch can be regarded as in- 
cluding no pike. 

From the other tln-ee divisions the figures were as follows, prob- 
ably composed mostly of pike: 



Di\-isions. 


Quantity. 


Value. 


Great Lakes di\"ision 


Pouvdx. 

2,142,000 
31)7, 000 
30.5, 000 


•5130, 000 




l(i, 000 




11,000 








Total 


2,814,000 


163, 000 







By States the figures appear as follows: 



states. u 


Quantity. 


Value. 


Illinois . 


P omuls. 

14,000 

6i;000 

478,000 

3.51,000 

.58, 000 

90, 000 

1,118,000 

100 

30.5. 000 

317,000 


$1,100 




3, 200 




32,000 




11,000 




1,200 


New York . . . .• 


9, 000 


Ohio. 


70, 000 




(f') 




11,000 




23,000 







a Other States not distinjaushed. 



b Loss (ban -SIOO. 



40 THE PIKES : DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

Ill the foregoing list Ohio appears to he the paramount State^ 
yielding nearly 40 per cent of the entire catch of the country, ail of 
which was from Lal^e Erie waters. In 1899 the recorded catch of 
pike and pickerel of Oliio in Lake Erie amounted to only 739 pounds, 
valued at $38, showing the astonishmg increase in nine years of over 
a milhon pounds, with very little increase in price per pound to 
fishermen (ahout 1 cent). 

Pickerel. — In the census of 1908 only the Atlantic coast division 
includes any appreciable quantity of pickerel, miless possibly New 
York, which has been placed with the other divisions in tliis dis- 
cussion upon the assmiiption that the hulk of the catch was of the 
Great Lakes fisheries (Lake Erie and Lake Ontario), although some 
Esox reticulatus are doubtless marketed from the St. Lawnuice River 
and some of the smaller lakes. 

In New England commercial fisheries for pickerel are pennittc^d 
only locally, being more or less protected as a sport fish. In 1898 
there were 200 pounds recorded for Rhode Island and 5,420 pounds 
for Connecticut. In 1899 Maine recorded 300 poimds. No statistics 
are given for later dates except in Connecticut, which in 1902 yielded 
8,230 pounds, valued at $530. 

The Atlantic division yielded 145,000 pounds, valued at $11,000, 
most of which probably were Esox reticulatus, although some Esox 
americanus may have been included. 

By States the catch was recorded as foUows: 



• 

states. 


Quantity. 


Value. 






Piii/nil.i. 

140,000 

1,100 

35,000 

69,000 

14,000 

600 

12,000 


$1,100 


Oeorgia. . 




loo 




3,S00 




3,100 




1,6(10 


Rhode Island 


100 






1,000 









Of the aforementioned States, statistics are availal)le for Delaware 
and Maryland for the years 1SS7, 1888, 1901, 1904, and 1908. 

The figures are given for pike, wliich, if they are not intended for 
pike perch, doubtless indicate pickerel (Esox reticulatus) and possibly 
Esox americanus. In these years, also, New Jersey, which in 1908 
shows no 3"ield at aU, lias a comparatively large catch. The following 
table is given for what it is worth: 



Years. 


New Jersey. 


Delaware. 


Maryland. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


1NS7 


27, 625 

30, 400 

2,560 

600 


$1,S50 

2, 066 

210 

55 


26, 268 
25, 3,S9 
16,310 
11,050 
14,000 


$2,073 

2,031 

654 

544 

1,100 


521, 146 
577, 745 
67, .530 
42,317 
35,000 


$33,496 


INSS. . . . 


37, 2S6 


I'JOl 


5,390 


1904 


3,716 


lyos . . 


3,S00 











THE PIKES: DISTKIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 41 

Statistics arc also available for North Carolina for the foregoing 
years, excepting those for 1904 and 1901, the latter T)oing replaced 
by those of 1902. Also, Virginia and Georgia record small catches 
for 1901 and 1902, respectively. There may be some doubt regard- 
ing the pike of Virginia and North Carolina, as they possibly may 
comprise some pike perch. 



Years. 


Vir^'inia. 


North Carolina. 


fieorpia. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


Pounds. 


Value. 


1SS7 






22,402 
27, 161 


$1,056 
1,303 






ISHS 










1901 


32, 103 


$2, 84S 






1902 


30, S50 


1,4S7 


350 


$18 


1904 


3,644 
12,000 


2, 934 
1,000 




1908. 


09,000 


3, 100 


1, 000 


100 







In the first table a decrease is shown in the catch in each State, 
New Jersey completely disappearing. In the Southern States the 
quantity caught appears to have increased considerably. North 
Carolina gained 46,588 pounds, or over 148 per cent, in the 21 years 
from 1887, but feU off slightly in price per pound to fishermen. 

The foregoing figures, taken with what is known about the pickerel, 
suggest that it does not breed and grow fast enough to furnish a 
permanent supply for any extensive or intensive fishery. The first 
table shows almost progressive decreases in tlu-ee Middle States in 
proximity to large markets. While in the South an increase is shown, 
it is probably ascribable to more extensive and perhaps more inten- 
sive fisliing in later years. It is safe to prethct that unless the fishing 
is regulated a canvass of the fisheries a few years hence wiU show a 
decrease. 

Muskellunge. — Owing to its restricted distribution and its impor- 
tance as a game fish, this fish has never attained to any very con- 
siderable commercial fishery. The report of the United States 
Census of 1908 gives 25,000 pounds, valued at $1, 700, for the Great 
Lakes chvision. Micliigan furnished 4,000 pounds. New York 19,000 
pounds, Wisconsin 1,900 pounds, and Ohio less than 100 pounds. 
In 1902 New York alone yielded 92,650 pounds, valued at $13,890, 
of wliich 85,400 pounds were taken in Lake Chautauqua. In New 
York these foregoing figures show a falling off of 67,650 pounds in 
six years. 

The qi*estion is: Ai-e the pike fisheries wortliy of protection and 
conservation ? According to the writer's view, they merit protection 
as a conservative measure for other so-called "better" fishes and as 
an economic provision. Consideration of the question wiU show that 
such a reason is not so paradoxical as it seems at first sight. The 
ever-increasing demand l)y a growing population hastens the decrease 



42 THE PIKES : DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

of the fisheries for those species most in popular favor, wliich, when 
accompanied by neglect or waste of other edible but less-favored 
kinds, results in a general depletion, with the result that the more 
higldy esteemed fishes rise in price beyond the purchasing reach of 
the majority, who are forced to seek cheaper fish food, only to find 
that there is not enougli remaining to supply the demand. Tliis un- 
satisfied demand affects the price of the so-called inferior fish, and it, 
in turn or in consequence, also moves upward. The writer is radical 
enough to believe that there is not an edible fish that swims that 
should not be conserved. The people of these United States are 
going to need them sooner or later if they do not already. 

It may be added that, as a rule, native species are naturally the 
easiest to conserve, and indiscriminate stocking of waters with new 
kinds is not to be recommended. The Biblical injunction about new 
cloth and old garments or new wine and old bottles is apphcable to 
waters and fishes. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY. 

Armstrong, J. O. 

1904. Maskinonge or maskenozha. Forest and Stream, vol. lxii, no. 15, April 9, 
p. 298. New York. 
Ayre.s, William O. 

1844. Enumeration of the fishes of Brookhaven, Long Island. Boston Journal 
of Natural History, p. 271. r>oston. 
Bean, Tarleton H. 

1891. The pike family. — I. Forest and Stream, vol. xxxvi, no. 11, April 2, 

p. 210. New York. 
1891a. The pike family. — II. Forest and Stream, vol. xxxvi, no. 12, April 9, 

p. 233. New York. 
1891b. The pike family. — III. Forest and Stream, vol. xxxvi, no. 11, April 2, 

p. 210. New York. 

1892. The fishes of Pennsylvania. Report of the State Commissioners of Fisheries 

for the years 1889, 1890, and 1891. The pikes, p. 89-94. Hanisburg. 
1897. Notes upon New York fishes received at the New York aquarium, 1895 to 

1897. Second annual Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries, Game, 

and Forests of the State of New York for 1896, p. 229-232. New York 

and Albany. 
1902. The food and game fishes of New York. Seventh Report of the Forest, 

Fish, and Game Commission of the State of New York for 1901, p. 353-3G1. 

Albany. 
1902a. Catalogue of the fishes of New York. New York State Museum, Bulletin 

60, Zoology 9, Pikes, p. 291-307. Albany. 
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Society, p. 145-151. Appleton. 
Benecke, Berthold. 

1880. Systematische Uebersicht der Fische von Ost- und Westpreussen. Fische, 

Fischerei und Fischzucht in Ost- und Westpreussen, p. 165-167. Konigs- 

berg. 
1885. Utilizing water by fish culture. (Translated from the German by Herman 

Jacobson.) Report of the United States Fish Commission for 1883. 

Vii. The raising of fish of prey spawning in summer, p. 1129. Wash- 
ington. 



THE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 43 

Burnett [Waldo I.] 

1854. [Note on breeding of muskellunge.] Proceedings of the Tioston Society of 
Natural History, vol. iv, p. 360. Boston. 
Chambers, E. T. D. 

1896. The Ouananiche and its Canadian Environment. The pike, p. 283-288. 

New York. 
1904. ' 'Maskinonge " is its name. Forest and Stream, vol. lxii, no. 11, March 12, 

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Cheney, H. N. 

1893. The pike. Forest and Stream, vol. xl, no. 15, April 13, p. 319. New York. 
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Cox, Philip. 

1896. History and present state of ichthyology of New Brunswick. Bulletin of 
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Evermann, Barton Warren. 

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Evermann, Barton Warren, and Goldsborough, Edmund Lee. 

1901. Notes on the fishes and moUusks of Lake Chautauqua, New York. Sixth 
annual Report of the Forest, Fish, and Game Commission of the State 
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1907. A check list of the fresh-water fishes of Canada. Proceedings of the Biologi- 

cal Society of Washington, vol. xx, December 31, p. 89-120. Washington. 
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1896. An annotated list of the fishes known from the State of Vermont. Report 
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1901. Notes on the fishes of Lake Ontario. Sixth annual Report of the Forest, 

Fish, and Game Commission of the State of New York for 1900, p. 485. 
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1902. Notes on the fishes of Lake Ontario. Annotated list of the fishes known to 

occur in Lake Champlain and its tributary waters. An annotated list 
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of Natural History. The pikes, p. 205-209. Danville. 
FoRTiN, Pierre. 

1864. Continuation of the list of the fishes of the Gulf and River St. Lawrence. 
Annual Report of Pierre Fortin, Esq. . . . Fisheries Appendices from 
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GiRARD, Charles. 

1856. Description of some new species of fish from the State of Massachusetts. 
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1884. Tlie pike family. The Fisheries and Fishery Industries of the United 
States, sec. 1, text. p. 461^66. Washington. 



44 TTTE PIKES: DISTRIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 

IIalkett, Andrew. 

1913. Check list of the fishes of the Dominion of Canada and Newfoundland. 
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Henshall, James A. 

1892. The mascalonge. American Game Fishes, p. 191-190. Chicago and New 

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1849. Frank Forester's fish and fishing, Esocidse, p. 217-236. London. 
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1894. Notes on the fresh-water fishes of Washington County, Me. Bulletin of the 

United States Fish Commission for 1894, p. 43-54. Washington. 
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783, p. 22-24. 
Low, A. P. 

1895. Report on explorations in the Labrador Peninsula along the East Main, 

Kokaoak, Hamilton, Manicuagan, and portions of other rivers in 1892, 
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1869. Pickerels. Report of the Commissioners of Fisheries for the year ending 

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1907. Do hornpouts "hook" pickerel? Maine Woods, vol. xxix, no. 51, July 26, 

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MOSHER, A. A. 

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Nash, C. W. 

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biological section of the provincial museum. Fishes. Department of 
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1876. Pickerel. Report of the Commissioners on I'Msheries of the State of New 
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pike family, p. 181-209. London. 



THE PIKES: DISTEIBUTION AND COMMERCIAL IMPORTANCE. 45 

Pennsylvania. Fish Commission. 

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Commonwealth of Pennsylvania from December 1 , 1904, to November 30, 
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1908. Pickerel — pickerel work — chain-pickerel work. Report of the Department 

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1908. A biological investigation of the Athabaska-Mackenzie region. North 
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]S75. Fishing in American Waters. Pike and masldnonge, p. 270-2S0. New 
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Smith, Hugh M. 

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Smitt, F. a. 

1892. A History of Scandinavian Fishes, vol. ii. The pike, p. 997-1010. Stock- 
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1844. Additions to the cabinet. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural 

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Thompson, Z.a.dock. 

1842. History of Vermont: Natural, Civil, and Statistical. Pikes, p. 137-138. 

Burlington. 
1850. Descriptions and drawings of a new species of Esox. Proceedings of the 

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Thoreau, H. D. 

1859. Esox from Concord. Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, 
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Tomlin, W. David. 

1892. The pike. American game fishes, p. 367-380. Chicago and New York. 
1892a. The pickerel. American game fishes, p. 387-396. Chicago and New 
York. 

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